News

New arrangements for Shropshire Council’s Community Wellbeing Outreach Team

12th March 2026

Shropshire Council’s Community Wellbeing Outreach Team and its partners have been actively supporting Shropshire’s most rural and isolated communities throughout the winter.

By deploying their mobile hub van to various remote villages and hamlets, they have provided residents with onsite access to practical advice, health promotion, and wellbeing services as part of the Winter Outreach Wellbeing project.

Now from 1 April 2026, the team will extend its provision from winter only sessions to become an all year offer.

The Winter Outreach Project vehicle

The project has enabled residents to receive support and guidance for cost-of-living and energy concerns, food security, cardiovascular (CVD) health checks, information on vaccinations and screening, lifestyle and smoking cessation advice, mental health support, and much more.

A key part of the project is listening to local people, gathering insights into the challenges they face, and feeding this information back into place-based planning so that services can better meet community needs now and in the future.

Starting April 1, 2026, the outreach team will continue year-round support for Shropshire’s most rural and isolated communities. They will listen to residents, understand their health and wellbeing needs, monitor key local health data, and adjust their support accordingly.

In addition, the team will continue to offer cardiovascular (CVD) health checks to people living in areas with higher levels of deprivation, such as workplaces, food banks, job centres, livestock markets, and more. To find out where the team will be present, please use the link to the monthly outreach programme.

Monthly outreach programme | Shropshire Council

For further information about the Community Wellbeing Outreach Team, please visit

Community Wellbeing Outreach team | Shropshire Council or email community.outreach@shropshire.gov.uk.

The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme (SVWMS) has launched a public consultation on the findings from its emerging strategy

5th February 2026

This consultation marks a significant milestone in the ongoing effort to develop a strategy to reduce flood risk, while providing wide-ranging benefits for people and the environment across the Upper Severn.

Data analyses have helped recognise weather patterns and make predictions over likely climate changes in the future. This data indicates that to reduce flood risk to communities, up to 100 million cubic metres of water will need to be temporarily stored during flood events - equivalent to 40,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Identifying where water is temporarily stored, how much, and for how long has been critical to understanding what is possible.

Meeting this challenge will require a combination of natural and engineered solutions, such as temporary water storage areas tailored to the unique needs of each area.

The SVWMS is committed to working closely with everyone affected, listening to experiences, and understanding local priorities and concerns. People are urged to have their say during the consultation which runs from 17 December 2025 to 11 March 2026.

Delivered by a partnership and working with the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Powys County Council, and Shropshire Council, SVWMS is determined to find the right balance between nature-based and engineered interventions.

The SVWMS has pledged every solution will be designed to be sensitive to local needs and to deliver the greatest possible benefit for people, nature, and the local economy. The aim is to build a more resilient, vibrant, and prosperous Upper Severn for generations to come.

Consultation events will be held across the catchment, and materials will be available online and in local libraries and leisure centres.

Feedback from this consultation will directly inform the development of the draft strategy, which will be subject to further consultation in 2026.

Further information, consultation materials, and feedback forms will be available at: www.severnvalleywatermanagementscheme.commonplace.is

Enquiries and comments can be directed to SVWMS@environment-agency.gov.uk

GC Vyrnwy Frankton Project Connection – targeted statutory consultation 4 February to 6 March 2026

5th February 2026

GreenGen have notified the Parish Council that the targeted statutory consultation for the Vyrnwy Frankton Connection is now open.

A targeted statutory consultation is open 4 February to 6 March 2026.

We are holding targeted statutory consultation to give those who will be potentially impacted by the proposed changes the opportunity to provide location specific feedback in relation to the changes close to them, before we submit our application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) later in 2026.

You will be able to find out more about each of the changes and maps on each change on our website www.greengenvyrnwyfrankton.com.

During the targeted statutory consultation we will be holding three drop-in sessions, in the areas close to the changes. They will be an opportunity to talk to the project team and view the proposed changes on the 3D model.

Drop-in session information below:

Location	Date	Time
Llanfair Caereinion Public Hall and Institute Llanfair Caereinion, Welshpool SY21 0RY	Friday 13 February	10am – 1pm
Llansantffraid Community Hall Community Hall, Treflan, Llansantffraid SY22 6AE	Friday 13 February	3pm – 6pm
Welsh Frankton Village Hall Welsh Frankton Village Hall, Welsh Frankton, Near Oswestry SY11 4NX	Saturday 14 February	9am – 12pm

You can provide feedback about the changes via the channels below. Please include a reference for which area of change your feedback is related to.

Email info@greengenvyrnwyfrankton.com
Writing to us using our Freepost address – FREEPOST Green GEN Cymru V2F

It’s important to us that everyone close to a change has the opportunity to find out more and respond to our consultation.

National Garden Scheme - Shropshire Branch News

2nd February 2026

Every year, amazing gardens throughout Shropshire open for the National Gardens Scheme which raises money for cancer and caring charities including Macmillan, Carer's Trust, Hospice UK, Parkinson's , Horatio's, The Queens Nursing Institute and Marie Curie.

The National Garden Scheme has been operating for nearly 100 years and Shropshire's involvement started right at the beginning.

Some gardens open for specific days, some only by appointment and some open as a group.

The Shropshire branch of the scheme raised over £90,000 for our beneficiaries in the 2025 season. Nationally, in 2025 the scheme was able to make donations to the beneficiaries which exceeded £3.8 million pounds.

The "Yellow Book" published by the NGS, includes many of Shropshire's best gardens, some magnificent country estates and some hidden jewels owned by ordinary garden-lovers, offering a cost-effective day out, with beautiful gardens and home-made refreshments, all raising money for our good causes.

A leaflet showing all the gardens open for charity in Shropshire is widely-available at libraries, tourist centres, garden centres and many other sources. Shropshire NGS volunteers are always on the look out for NEW gardens, NEW volunteers and anyone who would like to offer help with publicity, refreshments, delivering booklets and welcoming our lovely visitors.

Looking forward to the 2026/2027 seasons, we are keen to look to the future and recruit:

More gardens.

Gardens especially owned/run by young people or people with diverse needs.

Community gardens.

Gardens in villages or towns that would be suitable for designing a garden trail around.

The National Garden Scheme is very aware of the benefits to health and well-being that making and visiting a garden can have. It is also likely that programmes in your communities have a connection to health, gardening, community engagement and local tourism. We are keen to engage with all communities and would be especially interested in any groups who could benefit from our Community Garden Scheme which provides funds for local projects across the whole scheme. Two Community Projects in Shropshire were selected to receive funding from us in 2025.

We are always on the look out for volunteers to help with a multitude of tasks which range from publicity, distributing stationery, collecting entrance money and even parking. The team in Shropshire (as in all counties) is made up entirely of volunteers who give their time for free to raise funds for our beneficiaries.

Green GEN Cymru proposed new 132 kV electricity connection - update

10th November 2025

As you may be aware, Green GEN Cymru is proposing a new 132 kV electricity connection, including a collector substation near Cefn Coch and a switching station near Lower Frankton, Shropshire.  

We held our statutory consultation between 19 February and 16 April of this year. During our consultation we engaged with members of the community, elected representatives, landowners and specialist bodies to share their views on our proposals. The feedback we received was detailed and highlighted specific issues along with broad themes for us to consider.  

We are now sharing our Feedback Summary Report. You can find it here on our website.  

The report provides a summary of feedback and how it’s been considered, along with an overview of the consultation. At the point of submitting our planning application, we’ll publish our Consultation Report, which will set out in detail the feedback received and how we have responded to it.   

Since the close of our consultation, we’ve carefully reviewed each piece of feedback, including specific suggestions for design changes such as repositioning a pylon, and considered the findings of ongoing environmental and engineering surveys.  

This process has identified some areas where there is potential to make minor proposed changes of pylon locations and the route alignment. We’ll also be updating our plans around the switching station near Lower Frankton to reflect new information given to us by National Grid, and at the collector substation near Cefn Coch.  

We will be holding targeted consultations to give those who will be affected by the proposed changes the opportunity to provide location specific feedback on the changes closest to them, before we submit our application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) in 2026.

We remain committed to engaging with the community and relevant organisations and will be in touch with details on when the targeted consultation will be held, the areas of proposed change, and how to provide feedback in early 2026.

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